When you where in kindergarten, or first grade. Little anyway. Let’s say you’ve made a drawing. You’re mighty proud of this masterpiece. Let’s think about the following scenarios:
1, Someone takes your painting and draws something on it.
Obviously you’re heartbroken since you’re drawing is now destroyed.
2, Someone draws you painting again, copying it with crayons.
This is probably not as upsetting, it probably depends on if it was one of the cool kids or not.
3, Someone takes you’re picture, walks over to the copy-machine and makes a copy of it and keeps it in his or her drawer, never showing it to anyone.
Do you even care? you’re a toddler.
4, Number 3 makes a copy and gives to his or her best friend.
you’re getting popular right?
5, The same copy machine is used again and the kid from example NR 1 is not destroying you’re drawing but extending it on his/her own copy.
Does this upset you? I don’t think so, you have you’re own painting still and the other kid has a new one.
So what does this all mean? I’m thinking that when we grow up, we loose a bit of common sense kids have but we keep (and expand) some of the feelings and reactions that we thought we have grown up from.
good analogy however its kind of different when the product cost 100 of millions of dollars to create. You know my stand with copyright but i get why the movie producers are freaking out. they basically meed to wake up and smell the coffee that is all you can eat movies and tv for a flat fee.
Here are some thoughts that entered my mind. Nothing is to be taken as my final word on the subject 🙂
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Good analogy regarding how to look at copying. And I think it’s still viable even if you take cost into consideration. If a product, that can be copied for almost no additional cost, have a high production value the producer will have to try to cut that cost down into a level that is likely to be gotten back in revenue from the people that are willing to pay for the product. For example, some actors today don’t need $400.000.000. There you have a big number that can be cut.
Also, most people will pay for a product that actually gives back to you in any way. For example, a good movie most people are willing to pay for, but I mostly feel cheated when I go to the cinema since the prise is to high for what I think I get back.
But I have watched pirated movies, listened to pirated music, played pirated games that I feel are worth paying for and then I do just that. If I go to a restaurant and don’t like what I get I get my money backWhy don’t I get that when buying a record, movie, game?
Also, during later years we have seen a increase in revenue to big blockbusters, so those movies are not going to lose out on the revenue even if their production cost rank in the hundreds of millions. And smaller productions will probably also get revenue if they find an audience that is big enough. If they don’t find their audience, they either are not good enough to be payed for or havent found their audience. In that respect, free copying for private use can get their product to the right audience that are willing to pay for the experience.
One idea to get money for a production, is to publicly collect money as is done in other areas. Ask for money from the audience upfront if they like the idea of the product. You could then if the product goes on to collect a big revenue pay out a part of that to the contributors of the product. then you will have people that might be more willing to pay for your next product. Some kind of investment model for the audience. Not pure donations, but a kick-back model for the investors.
Regarding using published material for your own product. There I can think of limiting the use to non-commersial use if you don’t have the rights from the owner. Or that some of the revenue you make will kick back to the original creator automatically. But then we might need some kind of global automatic transaction system where creators can register and everything is kept track of.
Something needs to be done. I’m gonna work on my analogy some more to. I know there are nuggets of gold in there!